Sub-Occipital Myofascial Release Technique In Subjects With Cervicogenic Headache

Cervicogenic headache (CGH) is defined as unilateral headache which is referred from upper cervical spine structures. Myofascial release as a new intervention is currently being applied for patients with CGH.Objectives: for comparing sub-occipital myofascial release with conventional exercises in improvement of the headache intensity, frequency, duration and pressure pain threshold(PPT) in subjects with CGH.Material and Method: We carried out a randomized controlled, and blinded trial in 34 subjects with CGH within the age range of 15-75 years who were assigned randomly to an Exercise group (N = 17, mean age = 38 ± 11.31) and Myofascial Release group (N = 17, mean age = 38.88 ± 9.38). Ten treatment sessions, six times a week were applied for each group. Main outcome measures were defined as: frequency and duration of headache, intensity of headache and PPT of spinous and transverse process of upper cervical joints.Results: Statistical analysis showed a significant improvement in headache intensity, frequency, duration and PPT after treatment in the myofascial release and exercise groups (P < 0.05) except PPT of Left C2 transverse process in Exercise group and headache duration in MFR group (P > 0.05). In the ANCOVA no significant difference was found between the two groups after treatment sessions for all variables (P > 0.05) except PPT of Right C2 transverse process (P = 0.010)Conclusion: The application of sub-occipital myofascial release and common exercises produce a rapid and early return improvement in pain intensity, frequency and PPT in subjects with CGH.

Keywords:

myofascial release , exercise therapy , pain intensity , pressure pain threshold , cervicogenic headache